Progress to electrify about 100 low-income houses built at Kalkfeld Settlement in Otjozondjupa Region is said to be going smoothly.
The Peri-Urban Electrification Project is valued at N$2 million and is being spearheaded by CENORED.
Speaking on the project's progress, Otjiwarongo Constituency Councillor Marlayn Mbakera said infrastructure has been put in houses and streets, indicating the wait is finally over.
The houses to be electrified were built between 2015 and 2018.
"We are expecting 100 houses to be electrified. 94 from the Shack Dwellers Federation, I believe; five from the Build Together Project; and 1 for the kindergarten. So it will be 100 beneficiaries all together that will be electrified. Progress is satisfactory; it's over 95% complete already. We are expecting to switch on the electricity by mid-August or towards the end of August."
Mbakera expressed that the shack dwellers housing model has ignited hope in many to join, as they too can become homeowners of affordable brick structure units.
"I am really very happy with what Shack Dwellers Federation is doing. At the moment, Shack dwellers is our hope in terms of housing delivery. You can see that the quality of the houses that they are building is very cheap. We have more women working on the project. They are making their own bricks, and they are building themselves. So I think the Shack Dwellers Federation is the hope in terms of low-cost housing."
Kalkfeld Shack Dwellers Federation facilitator Mariane Kasamane says the federation has since applied for plots to build about 150 housing units.
(assist in Afrikaans translations)
"We are very happy with the electricity we got within the Kalkfeld Shack Dwellers Federation, and we are very thankful for the help from the Namibia Housing Group, who are always standing by us and giving us much needed support, especially with houses and building materials. We also asked for 150 erven because there are a lot of people, especially young people, who are without houses, and that's why we asked for that."
The housing units are being connected at a cost of N$2,500 each.
Kalkfeld is located 70 kilometres southwest of Otjiwarongo and is home to over five thousand inhabitants.